6 Ways Toward Painless Plastic (Cosmetic) Surgery

Innovative approaches for preventing and controlling pain after cosmetic surgery may be combined to help patients tolerate procedures as much as they will enjoy the result. New methods we incorporate include:

1. Surface (topical) anesthetics before skin injection: These can include Ethyl Chloride, a fine spray that instantaneously freezes the skin, overwhelming nerves that transmit pain impulses with sensation of cold so that subsequent painful stimulus is not recognized. Also, local anesthetics such as benzocaine, prilocaine, lidocaine, and tetracaine are now formulated into creams or gels that promote better penetration through your skin surface to create numbness in the area to be treated. These applications are spread over the area to be treated 20-30 minutes beforehand to allow absorption into the skin. Covering the skin with plastic wrap prevents evaporation, and may improve effectiveness. These skin anesthetics are popular before cosmetic laser and injectable enhancements.

2. Regional anesthetics: These include injection of local anesthetics to neutralize a specific sensory nerve that transmits pain from a specific area of the skin. Lips are among the most highly sensitive areas of your face and body, so this method is valuable before lip augmentation with filler. Dr. Laverson uses topical anesthetic on the skin, then carefully numbs the specific nerves that supply sensation to your lips. This allows completely pain free lip enhancement. Filler must be placed well within the substance of the lips, and topical (surface) anesthetic doesn’t penetrate deeply enough to sufficiently numb your lips without addition of a regional anesthetic to block pain impulses.

3. Cannulas for injection instead of needles: Blunt tipped fine sterile cannulas are now marketed to allow distribution of cosmetic injectables within the face or body without painful needles. These cannulas offer the added benefit of avoiding nerve or blood vessel injury. Sharp needles more easily cut small nerves and vessels beneath the skin, leading to bruising and other side effects. Blunt tipped cannulas, when carefully used, are more likely to push aside these structures, allowing injection to proceed with less trauma to surrounding tissues.

4. Long acting local anesthetics: Use of injectable anesthetics and/or anesthetics to moderate pain for as long as three days after surgery is available thanks to Pacira Pharmaceuticals’ introduction of Exparel®. Now FDA approved, this long acting local anesthetic (bupivacaine) is packaged biochemically as a “liposomal suspension” (within tiny lipid globules) for slow release. Exparel® can be distributed within your tissues before surgical closure. While not totally eliminating post-surgical pain, your discomfort may be reduced to a much more tolerable level. Use of Exparel® may diminish your dependence on narcotic analgesics such as morphine, oxycodone, meperidine, hydromorphone, and hydrocodone, all of which have undesirable side effects.

5. Nausea prevention: One cannot discuss advances in pain control without mentioning nausea prevention. The classically most effective analgesics are narcotic medications which promote nausea, easily their most miserable side effect. First off, if you are nauseated after rhinoplasty, breast implants, or tummy tuck, you’re unable to hold down pain medicine. You’re not only nauseated, but in pain, a difficult combination. Second, if you’re vomiting after nose, face, breast, or liposuction surgery, the entire experience of aesthetic enhancement becomes tainted with bad memories. We plastic surgeons want to prevent nausea and vomiting as much as possible, knowing that if you are miserable, you’re less likely to come back for more. The introduction of anti-nausea medications such as ondansetron (Zofran®), aprepitant (Emend®), scopolamine skin patch (Transderm SCOP®), and alvimopan (Entereg®) combined with traditional anti-nausea treatments droperidol, metoclopramide, and others offer much improved pain control by narcotics and a better surgical experience.

6. Finally, discovery and use of non-narcotic analgesics are helping. Intravenous acetaminophen (Ofirmev®) given toward the end of major surgery, ketorolac (Toradol®) in the recovery room, and tramadol extended release (Ultram® ER) at home to supplement narcotic medications offer significant relief with minimal side effects. Also, muscle relaxers such as Carisoprodol (Soma®) are useful.